Sundown.

                       Evening, Donna Nook   Oils on board   10 x 8 inches   


A quick oil sketch for a larger painting, this piece is about capturing the effects of sunset.  Donna Nook is on the Lincolnshire coast and popular with visitors as home to seals giving birth to their pups.  




                                                    An 'English' palette of colours.

I like a simple palette of colour.   The colours I have on my palette for these beach scenes are two reds, two blues and two yellows (cool and warm of each).  Plus burnt sienna, raw sienna and titanium white.   I can usually mix most of my hues from these warm or cool shades.  Our part of the country has not got bright, clear colours like the Mediterranean...it is more muted except for the magnificent sunrise and sunsets in our open skies.

Tube greens...I sometimes add viridian  which is useful for mixing summer greens and currently I am testing sap green and olive green. However, I prefer to mix my greens from my basic group rather than use from the tube so I use a little yellow with the tube greens to vary the hues.  

Grey is a lovely useful colour.  I mix from the basic colours I have on my palette with a little white to achieve the sort of grey I need...warm or cool.   For bright areas in the painting I put something dull next to it...as a grey, warm or cool makes the colours pop.  Passages of grayed down colours also help to create restful places for the eye. 

Left over paint at the end of a session is good for priming a canvas/board so nothing is wasted. I scrub the paint onto a gessoed surface, allow to dry and put aside for future use.